Goeschel, Christian/Hedinger, Daniel München 38

Die Welt am Scheideweg

Munich 38 stands for appeasement towards aggressors. At the Munich Conference, Chamberlain and Daladier gave in to Hitler's threats and left Czechoslovakia in the lurch. Less than a year later, however, the Second World War began. Daniel Hedinger and Christian Goeschel tell the story of the dramatic three days on which the world stood at a crossroads and ask what the Munich Conference still has to say to us today. Because the events of that time are frighteningly relevant today. In the last days of September 1938, war was in the air. The conference in Munich, the capital of the Nazi movement, was a last, desperate attempt by France and Great Britain to save peace in Europe and thus the world. Since then, Munich has been a global place of remembrance. However, it has so far been viewed too much from a purely European perspective. This overlooks the global background and impact of the conference. The rise of fascism had already called the existing world order into question. It was only against this background that Hitler was able to press ahead with his expansion. The world also looked very closely at the events in Munich and learnt its lessons. And so the retreat from Hitler weakened the democratic defences at home and encouraged the aggressive powers to expand further - in Europe as well as in the rest of the world. This is another reason why Munich 38 is a portent for our time.